Client Corner: Total

In a recent campaign ad for global energy company, Total, a selection of the company’s employees are seen in different roles across the world as they deliver a common message that supplying the world with better energy is their duty.

Created by Marcel, produced by Carnibird and directed by Samir Mallal, the piece supports the brand's tagline, Committed to Better Energy, and below Jacques-Emmanuel Saulnier (below), Total’s senior vice-president, corporate communications, tells us more about the campaign and how the company intends to evolve.

Tell us about your new campaign?

Total is a leading global energy company, but it is not a leading energy brand. The name suffers from a significant lack of recognition in a number of countries that are critical to the development of Total’s current and future operations. That’s why Total has decided to invest over the long term to develop its brand awareness and create a more powerful brand that can support our businesses more effectively.

Tell us about the approach you took to simultaneously launch the work in 21 countries?

It has been a long term work, along with all our affiliates involved. It was a big challenge to have every affiliate across the world launching the campaign at the same time, but we wanted to give a consistent global message and speak with a single voice. We also harmonised all digital media and launched new corporate websites and Facebook pages across the world at the same time.

And how were the territories you targeted decided?

We operate in more than 130 countries. We therefore targeted key host countries where we have strong growth potential and where we are less well known than our competitors. An initial group of countries was selected but it could evolve.

Why did you decide to film at actual Total sites for the campaign with real employees?

We wanted a commercial that represents us and resembles who we are. All our employees will recognise themselves in the 30-, 60- and 90-second versions of the ad. In fact, we chose to film and photograph a number of employees on the job, in different parts of the world. Nobody could embody who we are and what we are committed to better than our own employees. That was a key point for us. This demand for realism reflects the project’s ambitions. The result corresponds to our wishes.

It’s the first campaign of its kind in Total’s history. Tell us a bit more about the positioning…

This campaign, with the ambitious commitment it expresses, is the first one we've deployed so widely, over such a long period of time and with such broad geographic coverage. It is a collective statement from all Total employees demonstrating our commitment to making energy better.

And tell us about the tagline for the campaign…

“Committed to Better Energy” is not only a campaign baseline: it’s our brand’s baseline. We've been using it since early 2014. First, it describes who we are: a major player in energy, with oil, natural gas and solar power. Second, it expresses our objective: to be the company whose actions inspire confidence in a responsible energy future.

The word “Committed” is used to emphasise that all of Total's team members are engaged and involved in this approach. The word “Better” expresses a focus on continuous improvement that is very important to us. Every day, we work hard to make energy safer, more accessible, more efficient, more innovative – in a nutshell, “Better”.

And tell us about your relationship with Marcel and why the collaboration works…

Marcel agency, from Publicis Groupe, was very involved. I’d rather let them answer:

“We work well together because we have lots of commonalities: we are both French companies which have become global brands, we're both very respectful of cultural differences, we both try to nurture a truly collaborative and innovative working culture, we both believe in action rather than words… In short, we're on the same wavelength”, states Olivier Sebag, managing director, Marcel.